Religious Studies

Through much research and study, we’ve updated this graduate program in alignment and in continuity with the institutions to which MSMU is accountable: the broader mission of Mount Saint Mary’s University, the Spirit of the Founders (as articulated through the principles of the Mount’s founding Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet), and the Catholic intellectual tradition. 

The Master of Arts in Religious Studies is now composed of two distinct, though mutually informative, concentrations. The first concentration is in Theology, and the second is in The Study of Religions Each concentration has a 36-unit requirement to degree, which can be completed in 2-3 years. 

Mount Saint Mary’s is one of the few Catholic institutions to offer a Master of Arts in Religious Studies with a specific concentration in The Study of Religions. If students choose a concentration in The Study of Religions, they are not obligated to take core courses in Theological Studies, as may be required at many other institutions. 

MSMU's Master of Arts in Religious Studies still prepares you to make a difference in our world, with career opportunities in many fields, including: 

• Education 
• Social services 
• Health organizations 
• Ministries  
• Chaplaincy 
• Missions 
• Nonprofits 
• Business 
• Religious Communities 

Concentrations 

Theology concentration  

In establishing a concentration in Theology for the Master of Arts in Religious Studies, we asserted a simple (though often overlooked) claim in that all theologies are intimately influenced, and have the potential to influence, the socio-cultural and geopolitical contexts in which they are immersed. 

It is with that in mind that we created this concentration to illuminate and analyze the ways that Christian theologies, including Roman Catholic theologies, are radically shaped by context. This program is directly aligned with the developments in the Roman Catholic Church brought about at the Second Vatican Council that encouraged the proliferation of knowledge and practices not of a “theology of the world in the Church, but a theology of Church in the world.” 

While this theology track focuses on Christian theological theories and methods, it does so with special attention paid to the ways that Christian theologies have been, and continue to be, shaped both by the particularities of embodiment — including the prevalent and sometimes oppressive ideologies surrounding them (including race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality) — and broader, global systems of power (social and political economies). This concentration also remains aligned with the mission of the University and CSJ principles, both of which contain an undercurrent for social justice. 

Students are expected to immerse themselves within the contexts of our local communities, theorize the connections and global implications of local experiences, and utilize both to shape their scholarship. These practices will be honed within several required courses and, especially, within one course required in both tracks: Religion/Theology and the City of Los Angeles. This course reveals intentional connections with a variety of nonprofit social justice organizations, including the local chapters of national and global social movements, to analyze the ways that religious commitments may influence the work they do. 

Several of the courses in our curriculum can inform and enhance the work completed by graduate students from other programs, such as the humanities, psychology, nursing and Education. 

The Study of Religions concentration 

The recently created Study of Religions concentration, within the Master of Arts in Religious Studies, is inherently interdisciplinary and interreligious, and employs social-scientific methods and theories to study religion. The Study of Religions concentration seeks to understand and analyze the meaning and function of religious traditions and practices over time, with particular attention to, and analysis of, religious phenomena emerging from specific socio-cultural and geopolitical contexts. 

This concentration does not assume you have an interest solely in the faith of any one religion, but rather that you seek to understand and analyze the meaning and function of religious traditions and practices, and how they have the potential to shape our local and global societies. 

We maintain that the interreligious and interdisciplinary emphasis in The Study of Religion has the capacity to deepen our understanding and expand our imagination related to the manifestation of these core values in the context of a Catholic institution of the 21st century. 

Several of the courses in our curriculum can inform and enhance the work completed by students in other graduate programs, such as the Humanities, Psychology, Nursing, and Education.